EDITORIAL CHILDREN 3 | Editors’ letter 23 | A solid start Phoebe Arslanagic-Wakefield and Ben Lewing Joseph Silke 24 | Levelling up begins in the early years 4 | Director’s note Joanne Cash Ryan Shorthouse 25 | No child left behind 5 | Letters to the Editors Anne Longfield OBE 26 | The changing face of early childhood CHANGING FAMILIES Carey Oppenheim and 6 | A post-COVID caring revolution Jordan Rehill Sam Smethers POLITICS 7 | How have families changed? 28 | Bright Blue supporter Lord Willetts Graham Simpson MSP 8 | Learn to commit or quit 29 | Tamworth Prize 2020 winner Harry Benson Ollie Tinker 10 | Has liberalism eroded the family? 30 | Research update Peter Hitchens and Polly Mackenzie Joseph Silke

FAMILIES AND THE STATE REVIEWS 13 | Stopping the rise in domestic abuse 31 | Remaking one nation Victoria Atkins MP By Nick Timothy Contents 14 | Crime is killing our capital Ryan Shorthouse Susan Hall AM 32 | TV 15 | Net failure The Mandalorian Miatta Fahnbulleh Joseph Silke 16 | Fewer births shouldn’t worry us 33 | Film Robin Maynard Bright Blue is the independent The Farewell think tank and pressure group INTERVIEW Alex Griffiths for liberal conservatism. 18 | Jesse Norman MP 34 | Climate change and the nation state Director: Ryan Shorthouse Phoebe Arslanagic-Wakefield and By Anatol Lieven Chair: Sarah Sands Joseph Silke Patrick Hall Board of Directors: Rachel Johnson, Alexandra Jezeph, Diane Banks, Phil Clarke & Richard Mabey

Editors: Phoebe Arslanagić-Wakefield and Joseph Silke Design: Joseph Silke Cover design: Chris Solomons brightblue.org.uk Interview: Jesse Norman MP (p.18) No child left behind: Anne Longfield OBE (p.25) EDITORIAL

PHOEBE ARSLANAGIC-WAKEFIELD & JOSEPH SILKE Editors’ letter Co-Editors Phoebe Arslanagic-Wakefield and Joseph Silke introduce this edition

or the first time we at Bright Blue have position that reports of the family’s demise Director created, edited and designed much are much exaggerated, arguing that the of the Fof this magazine from home, instead modern family is actually a more important Early of our perch overlooking bustling Ludgate institution than ever. Intervention Foundation, also considers the Circus. Turning to consider the ways in which relationship between parents, highlighting The pandemic has forced millions of the family unit is imperilled and pressured, the profound and long-lasting negative Britons to hunker down in their homes and Chief Executive of the New Economics effects a hostile relationship between a thrust typically external activities inside. Foundation Miatta Fahnbulleh (p.15) couple may have on their children. Carey Parents have found themselves tussling points out that many families are facing Oppenheim and Jordan Rehill (p.26) of the for workspace at home, while wrangling serious hardship in the wake of the Nuffield Foundation agree that the quality children underwhelmed by their remote pandemic’s economic damage, and urges of family relationships is crucial to the long- lessons who miss their friends and don’t welfare reform in response. Anne Longfield term outcomes of children, and that public care to understand the intricacies of OBE (p.25), the Children’s Commissioner policy must support family relationships social distancing. Droves of adults have for England, is also greatly troubled by the regardless of family structure. abandoned studio flats and house shares to levels of child poverty in the UK, arguing Robin Maynard (p.16), Director of return en masse to their childhood homes for radical government action to assuage Population Matters, considers the question and bedrooms, where they must relearn to childhood deprivation. Joanne Cash (p.24), of children from an altogether different coexist with their parents. CEO of Parent Gym, adds that the pandemic perspective, arguing philosophically that On the other side of the spectrum, rather has starkly highlighted inequalities among we should simply have less of them and than being trapped with family members, very young children, as well as acting to embrace a smaller family model, for the sake many elderly parents and grandparents exacerbate the gap between children from of the environment but also for economic have found themselves isolated and afraid, wealthier and more deprived backgrounds. prosperity. with social contact confined to a kindly Alternatively, Susan Hall AM (p.14), Shifting the focus somewhat away neighbour dropping off groceries from a leader of the GLA Conservatives, urges us from children, Harry Benson (p.8) of the safe distance. Those with health problems to consider the pandemic an opportunity Marriage Foundation pops the question that mean they must shield are in the same to make London a better and safer place for of marriage, proposing a new ‘rule’ to help position. As winter marches on, these families — a chance to tackle violent crime. couples commit. isolated groups are beginning to wonder if Thinking about those for whom the Finally, we have an exclusive interview they will have to spend Christmas alone too. home and family may be a dangerous rather with Jesse Norman MP (p.18) on why The effect of the pandemic has, in part, than safe place, Victoria Atkins MP (p.13) negative campaigning isn’t for him, been a new emphasis on the family and argues that lockdown has importantly conservative values and the intellectual the household, but what is the shape of the raised the profile of domestic abuse, and tensions at the heart of the Conservative modern family, does it face existential threat that the way forward is the successful Party, and the effect that the pandemic has or is it more fundamental to the way we passage of the Domestic Abuse Bill through had on British society. structure our lives than ever? Parliament. We hope that this edition makes the In this issue you will findMail on Sunday Sam Smethers (p.6), Chief Executive case that the benefits family confers on columnist Peter Hitchens (p.10) and Polly of the Fawcett Society, looks beyond individuals and society speaks for itself, but Mackenzie, CEO of Demos, debate whether COVID-19, asking whether the pandemic that it faces real threats that COVID-19 will liberalism has eroded the family — did is a chance to use policy to shift traditional serve to intensify and compound. liberalism sound the death knell for stable gender roles in childcare, or if it will marriages and families, or did it herald entrench them further and mothers will Phoebe Arslanagic-Wakefield is a much-needed freedom and equality? continue to do the lion’s share of child- researcher at Bright Blue and Joseph Silke Meanwhile Lord Willetts (p.7) takes the rearing. Ben Lewing (p.23), Assistant is the Communications Officer at Bright Blue

3 EDITORIAL

SAM SMETHERS Director’s note Are conservatives falling out of love with merit? asks Ryan Shorthouse

oris makes conservatives smile – not the meritocracy has come true. widely just because of his chirpiness, but his Harvard academic Professor Michael perceive Brepeated electoral success too. His Sandel is one such thinker. His new book, it to be refusal to take himself too seriously has won The tyranny of merit, attacks the rhetoric the fairest over voters typically put off by what they of rising – the very idea of the ‘American way of doing so, can still see as a stuffy, snobby Tory Party. Dream’ – that politicians of all hues now above inheritance especially, but also even But something gnaws. Today’s subscribe to as corrosive to human dignity need. From an early age, humans show a parliamentarians are Thatcher’s children, at and empathy: “These views about work and preference for fair inequality above unfair heart believing deeply in the enterprising self-help have implications for solidarity equality. And, in actual society, there is no philosophy she espoused – that hard work, and the mutual obligations of citizens. If ‘veil of ignorance’, as John Rawls invented; no matter your background, can yield everyone who works hard can be expected our differing contributions can be seen. success. The concept that our agency, rather to succeed, then those who fall short have There are some solutions. First, ensure than any privileges we were born with, can no one to blame but themselves, and it is that, culturally and economically, we as far and should determine our lot in life rests hard to make the case for helping them.” as possible better recognise and reward deep in the soul of modern conservatives. It a broader suite of meritorious activity – inspires, both personally and morally. From an early age, humans caring for the vulnerable at the start or The sense is that Boris has walked too end of their lives, most urgently. David show a preference for breezily through life, granted opportunities “ Goodhart, in his new book, neatly argues one after another, without much effort fair inequality above for better appreciation of activities from the and despite controversies that would be unfair equality heart or the hands, not just the head. career-curbing for most. There is resentment Second, that we do not make merit the towards someone who is seen to have This provides some intellectual heft sole determinant when judging ourselves gained the top prize by blagging and to the successful anti-establishment and others. It is perfectly possible to bantering. Though without his wit and campaigning deployed by the political have social arrangements where success charisma, his predecessor, poring over right recently. The out-of-touch ‘liberal in different domains is cultivated and papers when the rest of us were asleep, was metropolitan elite’ are denounced for celebrated, but those with different perhaps a little more deserving? sneering at the culture and concerns of priorities, capabilities and vulnerabilities are However, the very desirability of ordinary folk. There is little love lost here: also respected and looked after. Even within thinking through the prism of merit is the trends show that the highly educated ourselves, we can be both professionally now being critiqued, from communitarian are increasingly turning to left-wing parties, ambitious and civic-minded. Graduates, thinkers increasingly influential in completely reversing previous voting habits. for instance, have been much maligned as conservative circles, on both sides of the Universities in particular are coming under lonely liberals, pursuing credentialism at the Atlantic. Accordingly, the educated elites intense criticism: for being the motors expense of community life. But this doesn’t - the product of a ruthlessly meritocratic of this meritocratic nightmare, but also sit with the fact that graduates are more education and employment system - that producing woke graduates who increasingly likely to get married and volunteer. have prospered in recent decades, have don’t vote for right-wing parties. We don’t have to abandon merit sowed disillusionment, disenfranchisement It is true that meritocracy framed in a way altogether. There are multiple ways of and deprivation among everyone else, which makes success entirely about wealth measuring what is meritorious. There are hence the vote for Trump and Brexit. and status is punishing, both for those multiple ways alongside merit to guide how A humiliating and judgemental social trying to sustain it and the overwhelming we arrange our lives and our society. stratification – by cognitive ability – has majority of us who will never obtain it. been created: the dystopia described by But how else should resources and roles Ryan Shorthouse is the founder and Chief Michael Young in his 1958 book The rise of be distributed, if not by merit? The public Executive of Bright Blue

4 EDITORIAL Letters to the Editors

Submit your letters to [email protected]

Nick Molho’s article (‘Faster, cleaner, smarter’, Spring 2020) emphasises the need for greater ambition in our innovation policy if we are to achieve net zero emissions. Molho outlines ways that government can support innovation, such as financing large-scale technological trials. He also emphasises that innovation is not just about inventing new technologies but making existing technology cheaper and more efficient. This is key. If renewable energy technologies, such as solar panels, remain more expensive and less efficient than fossil fuels, a sufficiently large adoption is unlikely to occur nationally or globally. Rather than castigating other countries for using fossil fuels, governments concerned about the climate should pump more money into green R&D, support technology rollouts and encourage more sustainable business models. With COP26 coming up, the UK Government is in a unique position to set an example for the world by following Molho’s recommendations.

James Paterson | Bright Blue member

Edward Jenner

Jim Morrison’s piece (‘Our thoughts are not our own’, Spring 2020) starkly highlights the political influence social media can have among an increasingly online-oriented society. It was troubling to read about the potency and prevalence of Jim Morrison’s column (‘Our thoughts are not our own’, ‘information gerrymandering’, whereby research has found that Spring 2020) provides an insightful analysis of how social around 10% of people’s votes can be determined merely by social media impacts political behaviour. It is daunting to read that media companies increasing one’s online interaction with friends voting behaviour can be manipulated with such ease utilising of opposite voting intentions. This convincingly reveals the power our social group, and particularly by outside forces. As the social media companies can exert when they are shaping who Cambridge Analytica scandal has exposed issues regarding we interact with online in order to maximise user engagement. political manipulation, Jim Morrison however, is right in Therefore, Morrison’s pressing calls for the regulation of the stating that social platforms hide more than what we expect. “artificial construction of social echo chambers” appear to be of As much as Europe has tried to put laws in place to safeguard the utmost importance; otherwise, the outcome of future general its citizens, such as ePrivacy rules, there are aspects of social elections really may be decided by the geeks who play the media that still need to be regulated. platforms’ algorithms to shape our social circles. Eleonora Vassanelli | Bright Blue member Cory Freeman | Bright Blue member 5 CHANGING FAMILIES

SAM SMETHERS A post-COVID caring revolution We cannot ignore the childcare crisis wrought by the pandemic, Sam Smethers argues

he COVID-19 crisis is having multiple suggesting a widening gap. from and profound impacts on our lives, We have also seen Institute for Fiscal LSE and Tone of which is the way care is Studies research which found that the time Queen Mary shared within households, but will it hasten mothers spent on childcare had doubled University, us towards equality or further entrench when compared with 2014-15. Importantly, found that mothers traditional gender roles? Worryingly, the their time is more interrupted – they were in couples were over one-and-a-half times evidence suggests that we are going combining paid work with other activities more likely than fathers to say that they backwards, but this can be reversed with half the time, compared with a third for were doing the majority of childcare during the right policy response from government. fathers. school and nurseries closures. The amount of time fathers spend per This disparity rises between parents who day caring for children has increased by If this crisis has illustrated work outside the home, suggesting that ‘key 15-20 minutes per day each decade since worker’ status does not alleviate women’s anything, it demonstrates that the 1970s, but pre-COVID-19, inequality “ childcare workload. These inequalities also persisted. The UK Time Use Survey shows we need to do much more to hold for other domestic work, with three that mothers with children aged 16 or under support couples to share care quarters of mothers in couples and nine spent on average 118 minutes per day out of ten single mothers, compared with doing childcare work, compared with 67 Other research shows that a third of half of fathers in couples, agreeing that they minutes per day for fathers. mothers, compared to a quarter of fathers, were doing the majority of tasks. Since lockdown began, Cambridge report always feeling rushed and found that There is no doubt that school and academics found that mothers working mothers’ time is more fragmented. Prior nursery closures have had a significant from home were spending over 3.5 hours on to the outbreak, research identified that impact on how families are sharing childcare, compared with around 2.5 hours women who worked from home tended to care, with mothers feeling the impact for men; while both mothers and fathers do more childcare, while men tended to do more profoundly than fathers. Existing were spending around two hours on home- more overtime. inequalities are driving couples’ responses schooling, with mothers doing a little more. Fawcett’s own survey, in partnership with to what is a period of stress. This is having Overall this results in a 1.5-hour difference, the Women’s Budget Group and academics an impact on maternal employment with early evidence suggesting mothers were more likely to have been furloughed and also more likely to have lost their jobs during the crisis. As the furlough scheme ends and the Government tells us to get back to our workplaces it will disproportionately be mothers who feel unable to do that, potentially creating a two tier workforce. Employers are left in the invidious position of getting their businesses back to work, favouring those employees who can do that or supporting parents who find it difficult to return. As schools return it will disproportionately be mothers who will be expected to interrupt Standsome Worklifestyle their work when the suspected COVID-19

6 CHANGING FAMILIES

>> cases in school sends the whole class, or leave for fathers which dads can afford childcare providers simply won’t survive year group, home. It took a whole 20 years to take, starting from a presumption of without additional government funding. to get maternal employment rates up from equal parenting responsibility. If we had This is economic madness and will 66% to 75%. We are now reversing that in introduced this policy ten years ago, undermine our recovery. Evidence shows just a few months. perhaps we would be seeing a more that maternal employment can be boosted Embracing home and flexible working is equal sharing of care now, rather than the significantly with the availability of free, at least part of the solution for many of us, work still falling heavily on the mothers’ full-time childcare, particularly if provision although there will always be jobs which shoulders. is available for pre-school age children. This cannot be done from home. Incidentally, Finally, we need a strategic investment would boost our economic recovery and those frontline jobs are also more likely to in our childcare infrastructure, recognising support maternal employment, helping to be done by women. I have long argued for that childcare is a vital part of the support reverse current worrying trends which are default flexible working, the presumption system enabling parents to work. taking us in the wrong direction. that every job is a flexible one unless there Pre-COVID-19 childcare provision The COVID-19 crisis, although is a business case for it not to be. COVID-19 was inadequate, with only 56% of local unwelcome, presents us with the has created that presumption for us. authorities providing sufficient childcare opportunity to finally get the sharing of care If this crisis has illustrated anything, it places for parents who work full-time. We right and put the policy response in place demonstrates that we need to do much expect to see provision decline significantly which families, employers and the economy more to support couples to share care, as a result of a drop in demand during the need. We have to seize that opportunity. enabling fathers to play a more active current COVID-19 crisis. Take up of early role in the first year of a child’s life. This years places has fallen from 77% pre- Sam Smethers is the Chief Executive of means a longer, better paid period of COVID-19 to 37% during COVID-19. Many the Fawcett Society

LORD WILLETTS How have families changed? Lord Willetts asks if news of the demise of the family has been much exaggerated

he decline of the family has long The Pinch. The amount of time a mother cousins. been forecast by thinkers of both devotes to caring for a child under five has Now they Tthe Left and Right. For progressives, increased over the past forty years from 78 are smaller it was welcomed as the weakening of an to 160 minutes. For fathers it has gone up but also, thanks old-fashioned instrument of repression. from 14 to 86 minutes – less in absolute to improvements in For conservatives, who often focussed terms compared to mothers but a bigger longevity, there are more grandparents. So particularly on marriage, there was regret proportionate increase. families have become tall thin bean-poles at the weakening of another bastion of Parents today are putting more time and linking the generations. Meanwhile the personal morality. From the 1960s to the effort into their children than their parents rest of society has weaker intergenerational 1980s, marriage rates declined, divorce did for them. It might not be the same story links. We are more likely to work and play increased, lone parenthood went up and for teenagers but it is harder to know what with people the same age. Children are the cultural gap between children and ‘childcare’ is with them and measures are wary of adults who aren’t parents unless parents widened. trickier. Then as children get older still there they are in specific jobs such as teachers. So Now many of the key trends have been is some evidence of boomerang kids who we have a more age segregated society, but reversed. The family, albeit in a wider range move back into the parental home after with families by contrast becoming more of types, is if anything getting stronger. university. intergenerational and so they have become Some of the most powerful evidence These trends reveal a change in the more important. comes from time use. I provide updated character of the family. Families used to If we shift from time use to the economic figures in the second edition of my book be bigger and wider – more siblings and trends, we can see more evidence for

7 CHANGING FAMILIES

>> increase in importance of the family. arms race of intensifying investment in their best for their own children will also say Universities report a sustained increase in children. The desire to do the best for one’s they want their child to live in an open parental involvement in their child’s choice child is admirable but cannot be the only meritocratic society, not one where your of university. It looks as if the ‘bank of way we discharge our obligation to the next place in life is shaped by heredity above all. mum and dad’ has become one of our top generation – otherwise there is a real threat That is why I have argued for a distribution providers of housing finance. Inheritance to social mobility. of £10,000 to every young person at the has also grown fast, but not quite as fast It is hard to buy a flat or house just out age of 30. They can use it to get started on as expected, and one reason may be more of earnings – at Resolution we estimate the housing ladder. Some people argue it is transfers from parents to their kids while it would take 19 years for someone on too little but most young people have got they are still alive – something we are average earnings to save enough for a so little it more than doubles the assets of researching at Resolution Foundation. I deposit to buy a place to live – up from the vast majority of them. I see it as in the hope it is not too cynical to suggest the three years in the mid-1980s. tradition of the property-owning democracy increased financial dependence of kids on So parental support matters more. such as with council house sales and their parents for longer may even contribute The rules on pension pots have also been privatised industries at discounted prices. to closer family relations continuing for changed so they are heritable as well. This So yes, the good news is that the family longer – it is not wise to row with your means that inheritance has become more is back, but you can have too much of a banker. important as the route to obtaining the two good thing. Given the predictions of the death of the key assets we build up during our working family this might all seem to be good news. lives. Is that the sort of society we want for Lord Willetts is President of the Resolution As always, however, it is not completely our children? Foundation — a second edition of his book straightforward. There is a kind of parental I find that parents who are doing their The Pinch was published last year

HARRY BENSON Learn to commit or quit Many get complacent in relationships that aren’t going anywhere, says Harry Benson

he way couples form relationships for everyday life together, conversations Women today is very different to the way our about the future that clear the air are easy to pay the Tparents did it. neglect. My latest research shows that living price for this Prior to the 1970s, couples moved in together for longer never actually improves drift much more together only after they had made a clear the odds of staying together but steadily than men, because the commitment to their future together, reduces the odds of getting married. biological clock is ticking and she needs to usually through marriage. We now tend to know the plan. Men’s commitment – much do it the other way round. Birth control has Birth control has been the more than women’s – tends to be linked to been the game changer, and with it, the link game changer, and with it, the a clear plan, an intentional act, a decision was broken between sex and commitment, “ about the future. “Right, let’s do this.” children and marriage. Moving in together link was broken between sex Moving in doesn’t require men to commit. is here to stay and, on the face of it, seems and commitment In a survey of 2,000 unmarried sensible. More time together, shared costs, cohabitants, the biggest reasons men more sex: what’s not to like? The second is inertia, that it becomes gave for not marrying were the cost of the What almost nobody thinks about are much harder to leave if things aren’t wedding and that it wasn’t necessary. For the two big risks. working out. The sheer difficulty of women, there was a third equally important The first is ambiguity, which is a lack of unraveling a complex living arrangement reason: he hasn’t asked. It should be no clarity about where the relationship is going. tempts more fragile or ambiguous surprise to learn that if the woman is less When couples have most of what they need relationships to drift onwards in hope. committed than the man, she’s likely to end

8 CHANGING FAMILIES

>> the relationship. Yet when men are less committed – which is more often the case when commitment is asymmetric – they allow the relationship to drag on. A less committed man has no incentive to end the relationship whereas a committed woman has every incentive to keep it going and not rock the boat. As early cohabitation has become ever more the norm, the result is unreliable love and the highest levels of family breakdown in history. So, here’s the problem in a nutshell.

Birth control has liberated women Ketut Subiyanto from the risk of pregnancy, but so too has it liberated men from the need to on decision-making shows that once you of a couple who had been together for six commit. How can we help a generation get to a certain level of information, further years, only for the woman to find out that who embrace living together before they information may make you more confident the man has been cheating. While she was commit yet still aspire to the dream of but doesn’t make your decisions any better. eyeing up wedding rings, he was eyeing up happily ever after? In a survey I did for the book, I asked other women. Their future was in her head, over 300 adults if there was a best time for a just not in his. While she was eyeing up couple to have a serious conversation about Six years wasted. the future. The vast majority thought there I doubt many people think this will wedding rings, he was “ was an optimum time within two years happen to them, but it does. That’s the risk eyeing up other women ... and a maximum time within three years. of moving in early and getting stuck. The Six years wasted After two years together – for young adults, ‘two year rule’ will either put them on the rather than teenagers – you’re not likely to same page of a shared plan for the future, or Just over a decade ago, when my oldest find out much more that helps you make it will set them free to try elsewhere. children were teenagers, I wanted to give that decision. them some clear ideas about how to choose That’s the time you should stop drifting, Harry Benson is Research Director for well and how to avoid getting stuck. I have agree a plan for the future, and either Marriage Foundation and author of Commit now written about them in my new book: commit or quit. or quit – the two year rule and other rules Commit or quit – the two year rule and In the opening chapter, I tell a true story for romance other rules for romance. Amazingly my six kids, now all young adults, have subsequently applied these rules really well. Several times, one of my Sarah Sands appointed Chair of Bright Blue girls has come to me and said they have a In September we were thrilled to announce that new boyfriend who is “marriageable”. That’s Sarah Sands, the former editor of BBC Radio 4’s Today one of the “rules for romance” and I cheer and the Evening Standard, has been appointed as our secretly to myself when they tell me that! new Chair of the Board of Directors. But some of them have also come to me and said they’ve dumped a boyfriend who Commenting on her appointment, Sarah Sands said: wasn’t “fighting for her”. That’s another rule. The ‘two year rule’ specifically counters “I am delighted to chair an organisation that the two problems of ambiguity and inertia. champions liberal values and original, purposeful It encourages a choice: either make a clear thinking. Society needs Bright Blue.” plan or stop the drift and get out. Research

9 CHANGING FAMILIES

LETTER EXCHANGE Has liberalism eroded the family? Mail on Sunday columnist Peter Hitchens and Chief Executive of Demos Polly Mackenzie exchange letters

Dear Polly,

All my life energetic, admirable and courageous people have tried marriage. They fought for changes in legal status, and for the use to help those who suffered in the cold glare of strict old-fashioned of kinder words to describe that status. But then they began to sexual morality. Who can blame them? The mothers of children born campaign instead for a social revolution in which the norms would out of wedlock; the children themselves; the women deserted or change completely. In most cases, I think they thought these goals abused by feckless men: all deserved better than they got in the were identical. They were not. chilly, disapproving Britain of the 1950s. The question that came to trouble me, and as an only partially- People love to disapprove, and the spiteful joy that can be reformed six-cylinder 1960s bohemian they troubled me more than obtained through looking down on others is a secret nasty pleasure most, was: what will become of the children? Ending the stigma which is too seldom admitted or described. It was horrid then, and against children born outside marriage was laudable and right, but it is horrid now. Oddly enough, that pleasure now survives mostly in creating a society in which many more children were brought up in the glow of righteous contempt which the enlightened liberal classes fatherless families, or even in children’s homes, was not. feel for the despised social conservatives who they have driven to the The same went for broken marriages. Who wants to force anyone margins of society. to stay inside a dead or abusive marriage? Not I, but making marriage so easily dissoluble that it offered no stability at all was surely not the answer, especially where there were small children involved. Surely “ People love to disapprove, and the spiteful this was not what was meant to happen. Can anyone have actually joy that can be obtained through looking wanted the scourge of fatherless families and broken homes which down on others is a secret nasty pleasure came upon us over the last 50 years? Yet those who campaigned for these changes do not seem to regret them very much, or to call now for adjustments to make When, 20 years ago, I wrote my first book The abolition of Britain, them kinder to children. On the contrary, they continue to push in I found a fascinating thing. Britain before the 1960s had been full the same direction. Have they just not noticed? Or was their target of campaigners trying to make life better for the sort of people always a different kind of society, and are the children just collateral I described above, the outsiders in a society based on lifelong damage in a utopian war?

Regards, Peter

Dear Peter,

It’s a funny thing, stigma. It is a society’s ways of policing its its wearisome sister, guilt. To be deterred from creating ‘broken boundaries and regulating behaviour. It works not just because families’, people need to know in their hearts that it is harmful to consequences are imposed on those who don’t obey - like being children to bring them up in unstable or single parent households, ostracised in the way you describe - but also because people and weigh that in the balance when they make choices about their internalise the shame. You acknowledge that, sometimes, leaving relationships. a relationship is the right decision, but you want people to be I’m afraid I have a problem with that, because shame is a poison. deterred from doing it so often, because you can’t believe it’s the Let’s look at the evidence. Yes, children do seem statistically right decision quite as often as it seems to happen these days. to do better in married couples. But that’s largely because of What does that deterrent look like? Surely it is shame, and the characteristics of people who get married. They are richer as

10 CHANGING FAMILIES

>> individuals and then, because there are two of them, they are the way we want it. You cannot take away stigma from single infinitely more likely to have two incomes than a single parent parents and keep the shame that stops people becoming single family. And - though the data can’t prove this - as marriage becomes parents. You cannot take stigma away from gay people without rarer, the people who get married are likely to be those who are giving more people the confidence to come out. most committed to one another. That’s probably why marriages are Shame is poison. You believe a stable marriage is the best bet for lasting longer these days than they used to. a child. So you must also believe children in single or step parent As you say, since the 1950s, marriage has become rarer, and step- families have been dealt a shabby hand. You surely want the best for families and single parent families have become more common. them. That means we have to celebrate those families: we have to If those modern types of family really were so harmful to children, offer them pride instead of shame, whatever the consequences. Talk then why are our children doing so much better than they did back then? Child and infant mortality rates are lower - even though there are far more cars on the roads. Literacy rates are higher - even “ Given that children’s lives have not though we have far more children in our schools with English as deteriorated as family patterns have changed, a second language. Child poverty rates are lower. The homes our children grow up in are warmer, cleaner and safer. on what basis should we be sending single or Given that children’s lives have not deteriorated as family divorced parents on a guilt trip? patterns have changed, on what basis should we be sending single or divorced parents on a guilt trip? Perhaps you will attribute these improvements in children’s lives of “broken homes” and “fatherless families” does not help anyone, to economic growth. But where has that prosperity come from? not least because you seem to have forgotten that there are stable Much of it has come from women’s liberation. Three quarters of marriages between women where children are brought up by two working age women now have a job in the paid economy - or at loving parents, neither of which is a father. least they did until COVID-19. Of course, it is more than possible Perhaps you are right that the confident celebration of single to have a stable marriage as well as a job. But freedom is not easily parents, gay parents, step-families, trans-parents and blended divisible. Women who work have the choice to leave relationships; families will mean a few more people leave a relationship that women who don’t get stuck. We cannot have all the prosperity of could, in fact, have been saved. But the alternative is worse. Children the last 70 years without the freedom of the last 70 years. should not be collateral damage in a utopian war: I agree. But You are right that if we liberate women, and destigmatise children are at risk in the crusade to homogenise human experience, relationship breakdown, there will be more divorces and more too. Isn’t your yearning for tidy little married families behind every single parents. We shouldn’t pretend that away, but neither should door a version of utopia, too? we pretend we can precision engineer every family to be precisely All the best, Polly

Dear Polly,

I don’t think you have actually read what I have written. I occupy the important than money, foreign holidays or material goods. position of the vanquished, seeking mitigation of the terms of my Nowhere do I call for stigma, or shame or guilt or ostracism. These surrender. I am well aware that my side has lost the war, though I do forces, as I pointed out, always exist and belong to the dominant elite not think we have lost the argument. That argument has never been had, as your response demonstrates. I ask only for the victors in the culture wars to ask themselves if they have got what they wanted. On Children, especially boys, do better with what measure do you think “our children” are “doing so much better “ fathers, and worse without them: this is than they did back then”? I suppose a Thatcherite might measure the observable and is not a statistical quirk caused quality of life solely in material terms, but I am concerned about what by the fact that marriage is more common sort of men and women we are bringing up, and I think that stability, constancy, parental love, good examples and authority – which used among the better off to be available in the poorest homes and now are not – are more

11 CHANGING FAMILIES

>> in any society, which is at present you and your allies. I think they economic one, and seems to be about what you call “prosperity”, and are often misused and nowadays they are cheerfully aimed against what you call “freedom”. me by the revolutionaries, who are quick to classify people such as me No man fights freedom, as Karl Marx rightly noted. He fights at as haters and bigots, marginalising our opinions as toxic pathologies, most the freedom of others. In the last half-century, adults have while misrepresenting them. If you are so against shame and stigma, fought and won a great deal of freedom at the expense of children, then you should tell your own side to stop using them. born and unborn. No doubt all our bank accounts have got bigger as Children, especially boys, do better with fathers, and worse a result, and our stock of material goods has grown too, but we are without them: this is observable and is not a statistical quirk caused diminished as human beings. This is why I am not a Thatcherite, and, by the fact that marriage is more common among the better off. In as it seems, you are. my childhood, stable lifelong marriage was universal in all classes and at all levels of income. Mine is a moral argument. Yours is an Regards, Peter

Dear Peter,

Oh, Peter. You seem so sad and angry. Let me tell you where I should be more creative. For generations, we placed unpaid duties think you’re right, if only to prove that I have read your words, and at the feet of women, and left men to earn the money and the thoughtfully. power that comes with it. Instead we need to split the work - paid and unpaid - more justly between the genders. Far more men should work part time enabling them to take on a fair share of the “ For generations, we placed unpaid duties at domestic chores, child rearing and community labour that women have traditionally done. the feet of women, and left men to earn the If liberals and conservatives could listen to each other better, money and the power that comes with it I think our society would be stronger. Progressives always want to change things, and forget to worry about the consequences. Conservatives are so worried about the consequences that they There is a tendency in most public policy campaigns to advocate never want anything to change. If progressives would notice for change and systematically ignore the downsides it brings with what gets lost in the tidal wave of change, they might be better at it. You’ll know GK Chesterton’s adage about fences: we should only remove them once we understand why they were put there, lest we get charged by a bull. I understand your outrage that the “ If liberals and conservatives could shift in family norms is talked about by its advocates as if there are only upsides - whether they be abstract concepts like freedom, or listen to each other better, I think our practical improvements like fewer violently unhappy marriages. I do, society would be stronger however, agree with you that there are negative consequences, and we shouldn’t pretend them away. Let me give you an example: women used to be the mainstay protecting it - or designing new ways to achieve it. If conservatives of community networks, because they were at home all day. That were open to new ways of achieving their old goals, they might not provided the infrastructure for a huge amount of informal social and find themselves so sad and angry all the time. childcare, of neighbours as well as family. Now that more women We have a common goal, Peter. In your words: children brought than ever are working in the paid economy, communities are often up with stability, constancy, authority and parental love. My parents more fragmented, and fewer people know their neighbours. We divorced and I had every one of those. My husband’s parents did not forgot to replace the unpaid work women did to keep our society and he had barely any of them. So let’s be fixed in our ambition for going. what we want our children to experience, not the family structure in So what do we do about this? Do we send the women home which they experience it. again? Some conservatives will argue that we should. I think we All the best, Polly

12 FAMILIES AND THE STATE

VICTORIA ATKINS MP Stopping the rise in domestic abuse Victoria Atkins MP urges us to focus on the issue of domestic abuse

ome should be a place of love and The voice of survivors is at the heart of this in cases safety but for many people in this piece of work. It will improve our support for when a Hcountry this is sadly not the case. victims and transform the way we tackle the victim and Their partner tries to control their perpetrators of domestic abuse. their children lives in a number of ways, ranging from The introduction of the first ever all- must flee, there physical and sexual violence to mental and purpose statutory definition of domestic must be a safe place to go. emotional torment, with often devastating abuse is vital for ensuring that everyone, We will place a statutory duty on tier consequences. The impact on children from local authorities, the judiciary and one local authorities to provide support living in an abusive household can be health service, to the public, have a proper to victims of domestic abuse and their life-changing too, and its effects can be felt understanding of the many forms it takes. It children within refuges and other safe outside in wider society. is not restricted to physical violence, but can accommodation. This ground-breaking also be emotional, coercive or controlling, measure will ensure life-saving services A survivor told me that the sexual and economic abuse. are available to help survivors and their mental and emotional abuse Domestic abuse can be a single incident children rebuild their lives, safe from the “ or a pattern of behaviour over a long period danger of abuse. she suffered over the years of time, even decades. A survivor told me was worse than having a hot that the mental and emotional abuse she iron smashed onto her face Our aim is always that suffered over the years was worse than the victim and children having a hot iron smashed onto her face. “ stay in their home; if The necessity of lockdown to tackle Others have described being banned from coronavirus has helped raise awareness accessing food cupboards, having their anyone has to leave, it of domestic abuse and the fear in which mobile phone confiscated to prevent them should be the abuser victims live. The National Domestic Abuse calling for help, and having their car keys Helpline, online services and other specialist hidden so that they could not get to work The Bill will also ensure that victims get helplines have seen marked increases in on time, thus risking their employment. ‘priority need’ status to access local housing calls. Working with domestic abuse and Some of these actions may be part of services more easily once they leave refuge. victims’ organisations, the Government has a journey that includes violence, yet other Before I was elected to the House of taken rapid action. perpetrators may never commit an act Commons, I worked as a barrister in the Additional support has been provided of physical violence yet control victims criminal courts. I saw, first-hand, cases of including: £2.6million to national helplines through fear. domestic abuse fail because the perpetrator to ensure that they have the capacity to We are therefore strengthening the intimidated the victim before the case came respond to this increased demand as well powers of the police and courts by to court. It was clear that the approach to as funding more than 100 domestic abuse introducing Domestic Abuse Protection how these cases are handled needed to charities to provide over 1,500 more safe Notices (DAPN) and Domestic Abuse be transformed and I have drawn on this bed spaces for victims during the pandemic Protection Orders (DAPO) to stop experience whilst working on this Bill. and to support local community-based perpetrators and the cycle of abuse. They We will help victims in the criminal services. will provide immediate protection following courts give their best evidence by making The national campaign #youarenotalone a domestic abuse incident and provide it an automatic option to give evidence via has been launched to spread the message flexible, longer-term protection for victims. a video link, behind screens and through that victims are not alone and to help them Our aim is always that the victim and other measures. In the family courts, many seek support. children stay in their home; if anyone has to victims describe how perpetrators use the We have also pressed on with our work leave, it should be the abuser. We recognise, court process to find new ways to abuse to pass the landmark Domestic Abuse Bill. however, that this is not always possible and them. We will stop abusers being able

13 FAMILY AND THE STATE

>> to cross-examine their victims if they Bill and includes a review into support for that everybody understands that domestic choose to represent themselves so that they victims within the workplace, training for abuse is everyone’s business. If you are cannot continue to torment victims. frontline workers and funding to improve suffering please know that you are not We recognise, however, that legislation support and recognition of male, LGBT, alone, and we will support you. alone cannot make the changes needed, BAME, disabled and elderly victims. which is why a wider package of non- Ending this abhorrent crime is vital. Victoria Atkins MP is the Minister for legislative measures sits alongside the We will be unyielding in our aim to ensure Safeguarding at the Home Office

SUSAN HALL AM Crime is killing our capital We need a Mayor who will protect families from crime, argues Susan Hall AM

very family wants to feel safe. Parents For its part, the Government’s new deterrent want to know that their children will determination to tackle crime is working. – if you Ebe safe when they meet friends, play in London will receive 1,369 new police know you the park or go to school. Young people want officers this year in the first tranche of the may get caught, to feel safe where they live, learn and work. Government’s pledge to recruit 20,000 more many will decide it’s too When it comes to crime, however, too many officers across the country. This is vital to risky to carry a weapon. families in London don’t feel as safe as they keeping crime low in London. This should also be matched with more should. Sadiq Khan’s failure to use his £18.5 knife amnesties and bins. When a parent For all the darkness coronavirus has billion budget to keep police numbers at discovers their child is carrying a weapon, brought, lockdown has presented London 32,000 damaged local policing in London. they need to know where they can safely with an opportunity to curb crime. If we are Not only were officers over-stretched and return it without incriminating their child. to grasp this chance, and make every family overworked, but it became difficult to To tackle knife crime, we need to all work feel safe in London again, City Hall must maintain local ties to the communities they together and that means helping parents to work with the Government to get more were serving. ensure their child never carries a knife. officers on the beat and back the police to More police officers on the beat will use stop and search. reduce the strain on the Met and enable Asking a person to turn out At the end of last year, it was local policing to be restored. It means their pockets if you suspect unthinkable that crime would sharply drop officers will be able to spend more time “ in 2020. Murder had reached an 11-year embedding themselves in the community them of carrying a weapon is high with 149 homicides in the capital. Knife and there will also be more capacity to a simple act, but one which crime had reached a record high with more investigate robberies and burglaries which could save their life or that of than 15,000 offences recorded by the Met. are too often neglected. another person And in 2019 burglary, robbery and theft If we are to keep violent crime under were up by 38%, 73% and 53% respectively control, stop and search is vital. When Sadiq That’s why I welcome the Home since 2016. Khan was elected as Mayor his pledge to cut Secretary’s steadfast backing of the police, However, lockdown significantly stop and search tied the hands of the Met which has seen stop and search by the Met reduced crime in London. During the ‘stay at when it came to stopping weapons flooding reach an eight-year high. After years of the home’ period of lockdown, theft plummeted onto London’s streets. As controversial as Mayor’s indecision on this vital tool, we by 80%, robbery collapsed by 60%, knife this policing tool is, it keeps Londoners safe. need a Home Secretary prepared to offer crime fell by 44% and burglary dropped by Asking a person to turn out their pockets the Met the political backing it needs to 34%. After years of soaring crime, lockdown if you suspect them of carrying a weapon is make London safe. has presented a golden opportunity for City a simple act, but one which could save their However, the Government cannot make Hall to make London safe. life or that of another person. It also acts as a London safe alone. The Mayor is responsible

14 FAMILIES AND THE STATE

>> for policing in the capital and unless problems. rising again in our city. No family wants Khan makes curbing crime his priority, this My fear is that despite the Government’s their community to emerge from this crisis golden opportunity could be missed. good work, Sadiq Khan’s proposal to cut only to find that London’s violent crime As lockdown eases we have already seen London’s policing budget by £110 million emergency is back. crime start to rise again in London. My fear may allow crime to soar in the capital once If we are to seize this moment to make is that unless there is a change of priorities again. This is not a small reduction in police our capital safe, the Mayor of London must at City Hall, crime may return to the record funding either – it’s the equivalent of nearly play his part. levels we witnessed last year in London. 1,700 officers. Lockdown may have largely paused some Londoners need both the Government Susan Hall AM is Leader of the forms of crime but it hasn’t solved London’s and City Hall to work tirelessly to stop crime Conservatives on the London Assembly

MIATTA FAHNBULLEH Net failure Miatta Fahnbulleh calls for a radical overhaul of the welfare system to fight COVID-19

he economic fallout from the holes in our social safety net. We entered pandemic is nothing short of grim: this recession with one of the weakest Ta projected 14% contraction in the social security safety nets – both among responding, economy this year; the deepest recession advanced economies and in our own post- we must for 300 years and unemployment twice as war history. Total out-of-work payments rekindle the spirit high as before the crisis. received by UK employees are on average behind Beveridge’s welfare state: the 34% of their previous in-work income – the ambition to deliver a minimum standard For too long, we have third lowest among 35 OECD advanced of living ’below which no one should be swept the inadequacies economies. At the outset of the crisis, the allowed to fall’. This was a key plank of the “ main adult unemployment payment was social contract that dominated for much of our social security system worth less than 15% of average earnings, of the post-war period. A contract that has underneath the carpet — lower than at any time since the creation of slowly been broken. the pandemic has laid it the welfare state. While the £20 per week bare for all to see boost to Universal Credit and working tax We must rekindle the spirit credits since then was a small step in the behind Beveridge’s welfare Behind these headline numbers are right direction, it only reversed one fifth of “ millions of people who face a catastrophic the overall cuts to welfare seen since 2010. state: the ambition to deliver hit to their livelihoods. We have yet to And at £94 a week, many people who never a minimum standard of living understand the full impact of this on imagined they would ever be on welfare are ‘below which no one should be ordinary people’s lives. The early warning struggling to cope with an income that is allowed to fall’ signs are alarming: 2.9 million new simply too inadequate to live on. However applicants for Universal Credit between we look at it, our social security system has At the heart of our response should be 1st March and 19th May of this year, an been denuded to a worrying degree. a new minimum income guarantee. In the estimated three million people going For too long, we have swept the heat of the current crisis, when the priority without meals since the lockdown and an inadequacies of our social security system is to get much needed income support to 81% increase in food bank usage in March underneath the carpet — the pandemic families quickly, this should take the form compared to last year. All of this points to has laid it bare for all to see. We will have of a temporary, upfront, non-conditional the inescapable reality that many families to respond – if not now, then when the payment of £221 per week to anyone across the country are facing real hardship. swelling numbers relying on this system that needs it. This would provide much This hardship is exposing the gaping begin to make their voices heard. In needed relief to an estimated 5.6 million

15 FAMILY AND THE STATE

>> people who are at risk of losing their jobs then enshrine this principle of a minimum blocks they need to live decent, fulfilling, or hours and falling through the cracks of income guarantee into a social security healthy lives. Alongside a minimum income the Government’s job retention and income system that badly needs reform. Through a guarantee should be access to well-funded support schemes – as well as for the millions combination of universal payments – that education, childcare, health and social care more who may yet be left stranded as these benefits all those who pay into the system and quality housing to everyone that needs schemes start to become unwound from – and means tested support for those that it. This should form the basis of a new social August. The case for doing this to ease the need it most, we must create an income settlement coming out of the pandemic to hardship of those at the sharp end of this floor that ensures that everyone can afford replace the one that has frayed. If we get crisis is clear, but it also has the benefit of the basics for a decent standard of life. this right, we have the chance to build back boosting spending and demand in the We must move beyond the welfare state better from this crisis. economy, which in turn has the power to of old that was there to catch us when we create the jobs needed for recovery. fell on hard times to a wellbeing state that Miatta Fahnbulleh is the Chief Executive of As we recover from this crisis, we should aims to provide everyone with the building the New Economics Foundation

ROBIN MAYNARD Fewer births shouldn’t worry us Robin Maynard makes the case for smaller families as a solution for humanity’s woes

nderpinning the family unit, concern for our habitat, the place we make certainly respecting the right to raise children home, and where we lead productive lives. resonates Uand establishing a home appear While the economy is more often seen with the central to conservative principles. The as conservative ‘home turf’ than ecology – concerns of controversial philosopher, Sir Roger Scruton, they share a common root in the ancient Population Matters. emphasised those in a piece he wrote for Greek word ‘oikos’, meaning related to the Namely, that the choices, rights ConservativeHome in 2013: family, its property, and dwelling. Ecology and freedoms of our present generation can “There is no political cause more focuses on living organisms and the and should be influenced and, if necessary, amenable to the conservative vision than environments that sustain them, economy constrained due to the impacts of previous that of the environment. For it touches on the management of the resources of the generations and to protect the rights of on the three foundational ideas of our ‘household’, be those individual or national those to come. movement: trans-generational loyalty, the ‘households’. The two ‘ecos’ have deviated Nowhere does this tension apply more priority of the local and the search for home. from their common origins and should be pertinently than in regard to family size. Conservatives resonate to Burke’s view of reunited for the wellbeing of present and Another philosopher, of a slightly different society, as a partnership between the living, future generations. shade, nineteenth century Liberal MP the unborn and the dead; they believe in and libertarian John Stuart Mill offers the civil association between neighbours rather Mainstream economists reasoning. In On Liberty, published in 1859, than intervention by the state; and they Mill introduces the ‘harm principle’ defining bewail falling fertility rates and accept that the most important thing the “ the terms upon which the state might living can do is to settle down, to make a the trend to smaller families curtail individual liberties. home for themselves, and to pass that home as heralding economic decline “The only purpose for which power can to their children.” be rightly exercised over any member of a Scruton makes broader points, drawing Perhaps I’m reading too much into civilised community, against his will is to out what he sees as an innate synergy Scruton’s piece. Yet in citing Burke and the prevent harm to others.” between conservatism and conservation. concept of society being ‘a partnership Mill distinguished between a self- He calls for conservatives to own the between the living, the unborn and the regarding act and an other-regarding act, environmental agenda, given its roots in dead’, he makes a radical assertion, that the latter being one where it is necessary

16 FAMILIES AND THE STATE

>> to consider the impact or potential side pressures’ in modelling biodiversity Office of National Statistics (ONS) show harm upon others, and so where the state loss. Dasgupta picks out population and that the UK’s birth rate overall is falling, that or society might intervene. Notably, Mill consumption trends as key neglected doesn’t mean our population growth has considered that having a child was an other- factors in environmental and resource ended. On present trends the UK will be the regarding act, given its impacts beyond the economics - even more so in high- most populous nation in Europe by 2050. immediate home. Mill presaged Scruton consuming, developed countries as per the ONS projections are for our population to in promoting the connection between Lund University study. reach around 73 million people by 2041, ecology (home/habitat) and economy Mainstream economists bewail falling an increase of over seven million people (household/resources) to conservatives. fertility rates and the trend to smaller - equivalent to seven more Birminghams, 150 years on, a study by Lund University, families as heralding economic decline. with the consequent resource and examining which lifestyle choices have Certainly, as countries develop, universal infrastructure demands. the greatest potential in helping meet education is provided, and women’s The public are concerned by this climate targets, confirms Mill’s analysis. empowerment enabled, a fall in fertility projected growth and want to see positive The researchers concluded that having rates follows. action from policymakers. In a YouGov poll fewer children, especially in a developed, Adair Turner, former Director-General conducted for Population Matters in July high consuming country like the UK, had of the CBI, does not see population decline 2018, three-quarters of UK adults polled the greatest impact over the long term – leading inevitably to economic regression: believed the government should have a around twenty times greater than the next “In a world of rapidly expanding automation national strategy for addressing population, most ‘climate-friendly’ lifestyle choices of potential, demographic shrinkage is while 64% thought the rate of population living car-free, avoiding air travel and being largely a boon, not a threat. Our expanding growth projected by ONS is too high. A vegan. ability to automate human work across all greater proportion of Conservative voters The natural connections between sectors — agriculture, industry and services (81%) felt that the projected growth was too ecology, economy and family-size are — makes an ever-growing workforce high, compared to 50% for Labour voters raised in the Independent Review on the increasingly irrelevant to improvements and 52% for Liberal Democrat voters. Economics of Biodiversity led by economist in human welfare. Conversely, automation The Conservative Party has the Professor Sir Partha Dasgupta and makes it impossible to achieve full heritage, the recourse to a philosophical commissioned by the Treasury. employment in countries still facing rapid and economic rationale and a supportive The interim report, just published, population growth. Automation has turned constituency to address the neglected presents a compelling overview of conventional economic wisdom on its factor of human population. the important relationship between head: there is greater prosperity in fewer biodiversity and the economy, calling numbers.” Robin Maynard is the Director of the upon policy makers to recognise ‘demand- Although the latest statistics from the Population Matters campaign group

Latest report

Going greener? Public attitudes to net zero Anvar Sarygulov

The UK has made a legal commitment to reach net zero emissions by 2050, but this is only the first step in a long and difficult journey. The profound changes that need to be made by individuals, government and businesses will be highly disruptive.

This report examines attitudes to the credibility of, responsibility for and the behavioural changes and policies for delivering net zero. There is a particular focus on perceptions around the decarbonisation of the supply of and demand for energy.

17 THE INTERVIEW Jesse Norman MP

Phoebe Arslanagic-Wakefield and Joseph Silke speak with the Financial Secretary to the Treasury about COVID-19 and what it means to be a conservative in modern Britain

18

UK Parliament INTERVIEW

Who are the people who have most influenced your political philosophy?

I’d have to choose Michael Oakeshott, Edmund Burke and Adam Smith, since I have written so much about them, but that is by no means an exhaustive list. The joy of political philosophy is that it continues to be a very lively area of debate and thought. I’ve just written a piece for Prospect Magazine on John Rawls and his book A Theory of Justice, which presents a remarkably useful and prescient set of philosophical tools for thinking about where we are now with COVID-19.

You’ve said that people often ask you ‘What happened to the big society?’. In your view, has the pandemic begun a revival of the ‘big society’?

That depends on how you interpret the phrase ‘big society’ — a set of ideas, a set of activities or a political programme? Considering those three, the ‘big society’ was in part an attempt to describe what was distinctive about British social and political life, with its astonishing abundance of independent institutions sitting between the individual and the state. As a political programme, much of Conservative policy between 2010 and 2015 — free schools, the returning of powers to local authorities, National Citizen Service, attempts made to devolve powers back to cities — can be brought under the ‘big society’ label. Though the Cameron Government pursued these policies it didn’t brand them together coherently as part of the ‘big society’. This meant that the ‘big society’ was vulnerable to charges that it was actually about philanthropy and volunteering, but it was about so much more than that. The institutions in Britain that make up the ‘big society ‘remain vigorous and energised. We have an astonishing record of setting up independent institutions, both inside and outside the public sector.

People have different reactions to these expansions, they “ may welcome extra support from government, or worry about the longer term financial implications of that support; they may welcome lockdown as a way of suppressing the virus, or worry that it is a suppression of individual liberty

The extent of the expansion of the role of the state during the pandemic is something that a lot of conservatives feel deeply uncomfortable about. How easy will it be to roll back this expansion?

There have been two broad extensions of the state in response to the pandemic. First, through the spending on programmes designed to address effects of COVID-19. Second, via lockdown. People have different reactions to these expansions, they may welcome extra support from government, or worry about the longer term financial implications of that support; they may welcome lockdown as a way of suppressing the virus, or worry that it is a suppression of individual liberty. There are colleagues across the House of Commons who fall into one or more of these four categories.

19 INTERVIEW

Do you think taxes might have to rise in the future reality of intelligent reform. because of the state spending during COVID-19? In 2019, the Conservative Party achieved success Thank you for inviting me to comment on tax policy outside a fiscal across socioeconomic lines. Can the Conservatives event, I’m not going to do that — but nice try! Across the House maintain a viable voter coalition, keeping ‘Red Wall’ of Commons it’s well understood that the level of expenditure we voters happy whilst retaining voters in the South East have undertaken with schemes designed to combat the effects of and the support of the City of London? What shared the pandemic cannot continue indefinitely. We will have to move to values hold these places together? more selective interventions and support and ultimately, the bill will have to be paid. We hope that the economy will return to a trend of Voter coalitions are inevitable in party politics. Many of those who solid growth and that tax revenues will recover as part of that. voted for the Conservatives in 2019 did so because they were profoundly disenchanted with the other parties. Voters either felt they had been disingenuous in the case of the Liberal Democrats, You could look at many institutions and call or that they were not credible and the product of remote and elite disputes in the case of Labour. What has been fascinating is that the them relics of a bygone era, or you could “ Conservative Party was able to draw many votes from seats which see them for what they are, the product of had not voted Conservative in living memory. The challenge now innumerable compromises that contain a great is to articulate a set of conservative values that encode all the good stuff the party has historically stood for, such as the family, financial deal of knowledge and wisdom soundness and the defence of the nation state, but in addition contains specific elements that acknowledge the concerns that voters had during the last election, such as completing the process The Conservative Party has been able to survive of leaving the EU and ‘levelling up’ to spread prosperity and make and thrive for so long, in part because of its ability the UK’s economic growth fully nationwide. to evolve with the times and keep its values in step with modern sensibilities. This begs the question, however: what are conservative values today? Conservatism is about the freedom to People often misunderstand the nature of conservatism. “ live one’s life effectively and well, within Conservatism is an intrinsically evolutionary idea — it aims to keep a society that benefits from the rule of law, the good stuff we have inherited while improving it and passing it institutions and shared anchor points of civic life on to the next generation. It contrasts with a reactionary position which wants nothing to change and a revolutionary position which such as the family or even the pub wants everything to change immediately. The difficulty with the reactionary position is that no new, good things are absorbed or adopted, so what you are preserving gradually becomes less and Within the Conservative Party there is a growing less relevant to the circumstances people live in. The difficulty with conflict between liberals and libertarians who the revolutionary position is that human beings are remarkably bad emphasise freedom of choice and opportunity, at making radical decisions that prove to be wise in the long term. and communitarians who emphasise civic life and Conservatism also means acknowledging that institutions are wiser interdependence. What do you think the outcome of than individuals. You could look at many institutions and call them that conflict will be? relics of a bygone era, or you could see them for what they are, the product of innumerable compromises that contain a great deal I don’t see the argument in the way you do. Conservatism is about of knowledge and wisdom. That we may fail to understand this is the freedom to live one’s life effectively and well, within a society often due to our own limited understanding. When this approach is that benefits from the rule of law, institutions and shared anchor taken, it becomes obvious that radical change is profoundly foolish points of civic life such as the family or even the pub. Often the and that conservatism itself is a set of ideas that is reconciled to the libertarian view doesn’t especially care about those things. The

20 INTERVIEW

negative campaigning may be painful to you, but hurts the other person more. My own view is that the British electorate is collectively Societies go through phases ... If we were extraordinarily wise and very rarely, if ever, makes mistakes in general threatened by an existential crisis in a war, elections. For these reasons, synthetic indignation and aggression “ contribute to the debasement of political life, but are unlikely after the initial shock, there would be equally to make much headway politically. My own Hereford and South vigorous debate about how to deal with the Herefordshire constituency is one in which people are incredibly consequences and come out the other side well grounded and community focused. We had trailed for 13 years before 2010, but we have been able to build up a majority there over time since then by tackling local issues, trying to do good things and >> libertarian view is focused on the individual and removing the reaching across political lines. fetters from individuals. It’s often confused with conservatism more widely because it is associated with American conservatism, but in What do you think of Keir Starmer’s attempt to revive terms of the British tradition I’m discussing, the conservative story a sense of traditional patriotism within the Labour is about individual aspiration as enabled by society. Of course there Party; is he taking the party in the right direction? will always be those who will be more concerned about the authority of existing institutions, and those more concerned about personal Of course there are people of a conservative disposition who vote liberties. That argument has played itself out within conservative Labour — there’s a Blue Labour movement led by Jon Cruddas and thought for hundreds of years and I don’t think anything much is Maurice Glasman. Many have suggested that a failure to recognise a going to change there. deep conservatism among many Labour voters is one of the things that doomed Mr Corbyn. When people saw an opposition leader During the early months of the pandemic, it felt as if who didn’t respect The Queen, who did not feel a sense of pride in his the country was coming together after a protracted country or its armed forces, who was not rooting out anti-Semitism, period of division over Brexit, but these divisions are they reacted against him and voted Conservative. I hope that the resurfacing. Are they here to stay? Conservative Party can continue to reach out to those people.

It’s inevitable that societies go through phases of reaction to a shock. When a shock looks like it’s clobbering a nation, there will be When people saw an opposition leader tremendous fellow feeling and a collective desire to resist. That is true in wartime and it has been true during the pandemic, but over “who didn’t respect The Queen, who didn’t feel a a period of time people’s feelings about the threat evolve. They may sense of pride in his country or its armed forces, feel others are doing better unfairly, that there is no longer a crisis, who was not rooting out anti-Semitism, they or that the end is in sight. If we were threatened by an existential crisis in a war, after the initial shock, there would be equally vigorous reacted against him and voted Conservative debate about how to deal with the consequences and come out the other side. Social media serves to magnify this. And, finally, is your current boss at the Treasury You have said that you avoid negative campaigning going to be the next Prime Minister? and that politics is dying for lack of friendliness, warmth, and decency. Do you think that this What I love about your questions is that I never see them coming! Westminster problem is symbolic of a wider social Needless to say, I have no idea, but it is an enormous pleasure to malaise? work with Rishi and see him in action. The Conservative Party is blessed with many people of great talent who would potentially I decided many years ago not to engage in negative campaigning make a great leader. That’s a good thing because we want to — I hate it and I’m useless at being rude about anyone. I might say generate conversation, a debate in or out of the Government that that their ideas are hopeless or positively counterproductive, but I’m draws on and recruits as many principled, thoughtful and energetic not going to be rude. The counter-argument commonly made is that people as possible.

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CHILDREN

BEN LEWING A solid start Reducing conflict between parents leads to happier children, explainsBen Lewing

e know that the quality of Doing something about the quality of for or parenting has a crucial impact parental relationships matters for children. It accept Won children’s outcomes, and this matters because decades of research shows help. It’s has been driving public service investment exposure to destructive parental conflict also very decisions for decades, but what about the for children and young people is associated personal – many of quality of the relationship between the with poorer academic outcomes, negative us know destructive conflict, have seen the parents? How important is that to children, peer relationships, substance misuse, damage it can cause, and recognise how especially at a time when local authorities poor future relationship chances, low hard it is to talk about it. are reporting an increase in parental employability and heightened interpersonal Although the evidence on how parental conflict? violence. It is also associated with mental conflict affects children is clear, it is less Conflict between parents is normal. In health difficulties such as anxiety and strong on what kinds of interventions fact, seeing how their parents disagree is depression, poor attachment and risk-taking make the difference in the context of very important for children. Parents model behaviours. the UK. There are, however, common constructive conflict for their children when It also matters because parents who are features of effective interventions. They in a hostile relationship are typically more help couples to understand the impact confrontational and aggressive towards of conflict behaviours, and what they Parents who are in a hostile their children, and less sensitive and could do differently, by focusing on stress relationship are typically more “ emotionally responsive to their children’s management, effective coping and problem confrontational and aggressive needs. This means that interventions which solving. They build skills through modelling, towards their children focus solely on supporting the parent- roleplay and feedback, to help parents to child relationship are unlikely to improve communicate more effectively and avoid they seek compromise with each other, outcomes for children if they take place in a conflict. For parents in the context of divorce demonstrate warmth, use humour and context of parental conflict. or separation, they build motivation to negotiation as they resolve their differences, Some families are more vulnerable to and continue to show respect. For a child, parental conflict. Financial difficulties, for The coronavirus pandemic the best ending to a fight between parents example, can impact on parental mental and lockdown has is a warm and meaningful resolution. health, which in turn can increase conflict “ However, when children are exposed between parents. The coronavirus pandemic created the ideal to frequent, intense and poorly resolved and lockdown has created the ideal conditions for conflict conflict between their parents this can conditions for conflict – financial pressure, have a damaging and long-term impact worklessness, bereavement, cramped living strengthen the quality of parenting and not on them. This kind of destructive conflict conditions, uncertainty about the future and to undermine the other parent. They target is characterised by intense quarrels, verbal lack of access to support services. the couple’s relationship communication or physical aggression, arguments that are More than ever, responding to conflict and conflict management skills at key about or involve the children, the ‘silent’ between parents must be an urgent priority. transition points, such as becoming a parent treatment, lack of respect and emotional However, taking action on parental conflict or a child’s school transition. control, and a lack of resolution. is complex. It touches on cultural attitudes We also have much to learn right now This isn’t a question of relationship towards the family, and what we think about the local innovation we are seeing as structure. The evidence shows that parental public services are for. It relates to how we local public services adapt their offer to the conflict can harm children’s outcomes train our workforce, and how local services current context, particularly in the digital regardless of whether parents are together work together. It depends on how we world. Our recent study, Reducing parental or separated, or are not biologically related design support services, and reach out to conflict in the context of COVID-19, reported to the child, such as in foster families. families who don’t trust us enough to ask that the vast majority of local authorities

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>> and intervention developers, providers that EIF described in 2016 when we doesn’t divert us from the importance for have adapted their provision to be available published our first evidence review on children of reducing destructive conflict virtually or digitally, and are keen to find out What works to enhance interparental between their parents. more about the effectiveness and impact relationships and improve outcomes for of this. children?, but the job is certainly not done Ben Lewing is the Assistant Director for Parental relationship quality is no longer yet. We must make sure that the pressure Policy and Practice at the Early Intervention the ‘neglected site for early intervention’ created by the public health emergency Foundation

JOANNE CASH Levelling up begins in the early years Joanne Cash calls for early years to be a priority to close the life chances gap

he coronavirus lockdown supposedly These early years might better be termed forced families across the UK into the the ‘lost years’, and life chances are severely Tsame experience at the same time: diminished by them. confined to their homes, sharing the kitchen During these lost years, the gap between disadvantaged table for education, work and play. However, those from wealthier, and those from families. It seemed as the pandemic experience of one family has more deprived backgrounds, becomes obvious to me then as now been radically different to that of another. pronounced. By the time they arrive at that the best way to help improve these A house, with a garden, technology and school, children from disadvantaged children’s chances was to educate their space for home-schooling and working, backgrounds lag behind their peers by an parents in how to care for them. It led me to with parents who have the time, energy, average of 4.3 months of learning. Once the co-found Parent Gym, which now delivers and inclination to take an interest in a child’s gap appears, it is very hard to close. By GCSE 100 programmes a term in areas of greatest education, is not equivalent to a small flat stage, a chasm of 19 months has appeared. need. with a stressed, overworked or unemployed This Government’s commitment to The benefits of the programme on parent and no access to a laptop. Far from social justice, with targeted regeneration parenting outcomes and the mental health being the great leveller, coronavirus has initiatives such as the £24 million of participants have been verified by exacerbated inequalities that have always investment to drive up school standards Warwick University. When Boris Johnson been present. in the North East, is very welcome. But visited a Parent Gym programme as Mayor interventions like these focus largely on of London he described it as “one of the Children from school-age children. To level up opportunity most hopeful things [he] had ever seen”. disadvantaged backgrounds and life outcomes, we need to address the If the Government were to do one “ early years. thing to improve the chances of future lag behind their peers by an There is overwhelming evidence that generations, it would be to develop a long average of 4.3 months inadequate parenting is one of the most overdue parenting support strategy for the important drivers of social inequalities in early years. It should cover the first 1,001 These inequalities begin early and have a child’s cognitive development before critical days from conception to entry into a dramatic effect in the first few years of school. The Sutton Trust, Resolution nursery education, and coordinate efforts a child’s life. New parents are supported Foundation, Early Intervention Foundation between the Department for Education and through antenatal classes, by midwives and and many others have concluded that the the Department of Health and Social Care. by health visitors. As a society, we seem quality of parenting impacts both cognitive The other most reliable way to equip our to recognise the need to teach parents at and socio-economic outcomes. children is by improved nursery provision. this stage. And yet, once a child receives Ten years ago I stood for Parliament in This is already the norm in Denmark and their last injections, this support all but an inner London seat and was struck by other Nordic countries, with 98% of children disappears – until they arrive at school. the lack of parenting ability of many young aged three to six attending quality nursery.

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>> While the Government has committed of early years development and risks. Many The likelihood is that we are about to to funding maintained nursery schools by studies show that a number of ACEs – such enter a deep recession and interventions 2021, our early years learning provision as living with mental health issues, alcohol on the scale suggested here are expensive, needs urgent attention to increase the or drug dependency, violent or sexual but COVID-19 has shown us that the lost number, duration and quality of places. abuse as well as childhood bereavement or years cost us all. The correlation of poverty, There is a compelling case for it when family break-up – can have serious impact obesity and chronic health conditions has children who attend quality preschool for on health, education, opportunity and meant increased rates of hospital admission two to three years gain eight months in even life expectancy. The ACE score has and death among the disadvantaged. There their literacy development. been endorsed by the British Psychological is a moral imperative both to help these Along with parenting and early years Society and the Early Intervention children and to invigorate our nation’s learning provision, there is a strong case Foundation and is successfully used in prospects. The lost years can eventually for the adoption of a universal measure for children’s services in the US. Combined with mean lost lives. It is time to act. understanding children’s vulnerability: the the right interventions, it would provide Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACE) score. a vital unifying framework for childhood Joanne Cash is the Chair of Mind Gym plc This is an impressive and proven measure support. and the Co-Founder of Parent Gym

ANNE LONGFIELD No child left behind Such high child poverty in a wealthy country is shameful, decries Anne Longfield OBE

or a country as wealthy as ours, it What has changed in recent years is As cannot be right that in 2018/19 over the profile of households in poverty. Most England’s Ffour million children were living in notably, child poverty has become more Children’s poverty — an increase of 600,000 children common in working households than in Commissioner since 2010/11. For these children, being in workless households. In 2009/10, 54% I meet children from poverty is not a statistic, it is an inescapable of children in absolute poverty were in all sorts of backgrounds and not every child and all-encompassing element of their lives. working families. Nine years later, 72% of growing up in poverty is unhappy, doing Poverty has been a reality for a children in poverty were in working families. badly at school or at risk. But the evidence substantial portion of children growing Many families work flat out to support their is clear — poverty almost always makes up in Britain for centuries. Even in the 21st family — sometimes in multiple jobs — and existing vulnerabilities worse. Growing up in century, before the coronavirus crisis hit, are still unable to earn the income they poverty puts at risk the building blocks of a nine children in a classroom of 30 were need. The coronavirus crisis will worsen good childhood like secure relationships, a living below the UK’s relative poverty line. many of these alarming statistics. decent home and an inspiring education. Most obviously, poverty can be a huge source of stress and worry for the children who experience it. Children in poverty are also much more likely to experience material deprivation. Education and employment opportunities for children in poverty are also fewer. Research by my office has found that 37% of children who receive free school meals leave education without a Level 2 Qualification, compared to 18% of all children. The consequences for their life chances are obvious. Growing

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>> up in poverty is all about the here and will need more help in the months and children who are not part of our national now, and constant uncertainty means that years ahead. That is why I argued during progress. Turning this around should be the poor children cannot plan for their future the coronavirus crisis that there should be priority for any party of government, and like their more affluent peers. an immediate uplift in child benefit, of at for a government elected on the promise of It is staggering that in this wealthy least £10 per child, to help all families. I also ‘levelling-up’ there is no excuse not to act country we have children regularly skipping believe the two-child limit on UC and tax now. Too many hard-working, tired, over- meals while their parents struggle to buy credits must now go, as should the benefit stretched parents are in low paid, insecure food. I cannot tell you how heart-breaking cap. Many parents whose hours have work, struggling to make ends meet. They it is to go on a school visit and to find been cut can no longer reach the earnings contribute to society through their taxes that there is actually a food bank in the threshold at which they are exempted. and efforts, but live week to week. They school itself. Too many children living in I would also like to see families who are doing the right thing, but the odds are poverty are also growing up in temporary need Universal Credit receiving their first stacked against them. accommodation, such as office block payment straight away, not in five weeks The consequences for their children conversions where families are cramming which too often leads to family debt rising. are obvious, and the problems of poverty into flats the size of a parking space. In the medium and long-term, I want cascade down through the decades. How Tackling these problems will be tough to see a complete re-evaluation of how we the Government responds to this challenge and expensive. In my view, it can only tackle child poverty. This must range from will affect the lives of millions of children for be done nationally with the full weight investment in early help programmes like years to come, and a failure to act will lead of government behind it. Failing to do Family Hubs and Sure Start, to recasting to failures in other policy areas, from gang- so means accepting there will always be our social security system so it does not related crime to the rising costs of the care millions of children with poor outcomes, penalise some of those who need it most. and special needs education systems. poor health, poor prospects and social It must mean tackling the disadvantage Helping these children into the future problems that end up costing billions to gap in schools and making sure those areas must be a national ongoing mission, not just deal with. that are struggling to cope with the effects a temporary easing of the consequence of a The Chancellor’s quick action to of poverty, many of them in Northern once in a lifetime public health crisis. introduce a furlough scheme during the England, are given the resources to tackle coronavirus crisis averted catastrophe for generational problems. Anne Longfield OBE is the Children’s many families, but those living with poverty Undeniably, there are millions of Commissioner for England

CAREY OPPENHEIM & JORDAN REHILL The changing face of early childhood Carey Oppenheim and Jordan Rehill examine the evidence on family stability

he story here is one of continuity and outcomes. However, these continue to in public change. Family living arrangements account for a small proportion of all families, discourse, Tin the UK are increasingly varied, with according to recent estimates. Indeed, the what it a growth in cohabitation, re-partnering and majority of children under five in the UK describes has also blended families. Family structures can also continue to grow up in married couple changed markedly in the last 20 be transient in nature with parents, children families. years. In the UK, we have not yet reached a and other family members sometimes In this context, the ‘family’ remains a broad political and ideological consensus experiencing a number of different family heavily debated and ideologically contested on this issue, despite the growing evidence structures throughout their lives. Research concept, with diverging views about the base. suggests that children growing up in importance of marriage and the impact of Debates on the importance of family families which change in structure multiple separation on children’s early outcomes. structure have roared on for decades, if not times are more likely to have poor early Though ‘family’ as a word remains constant centuries. They have particular significance

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>> at a time when issues of social well- being and inequality are being thrown into sharp relief by the COVID-19 crisis. Family circumstances have a powerful influence on how a baby develops and fares throughout its childhood and beyond. Understanding the pressures and dynamics of family life is fundamental to consideration of how we might build a more resilient and cohesive society. Without understanding the complexities of families today, the policies and initiatives that seek to address other key areas of our society — education, productivity, health, mental health and intergenerational equity — will falter. It has often been said that for every complex problem there is a solution that is simple, neat and wrong. This maxim certainly rings true when it comes to the are more likely to get married, rather than childhood well-being and outcomes. complex relationship between family marriage itself making relationships more Children growing up with separated structure and child outcomes. The research stable. parents in a stable and harmonious in this area is complex and nuanced. A Growing up in a lone parent household is arrangement may fare better than children growing consensus is beginning to form, also thought to be associated with negative who are growing up in a couple where there however, about the ways in which family socio-emotional and cognitive outcomes is a high degree of conflict. This suggests structure, socio-economic factors and for children. However, the evidence is mixed that public policy needs to support family inter-parental conflict intertwine to shape on the age at which we would expect to relationships and children’s development children’s early outcomes and well-being. see impact on the child. More research is regardless of family structure, especially for needed to disentangle these factors and families going through transitions, whether Public policy needs to further test these associations, particularly separation, forming a new partnership in relation to social and emotional or facing other challenges such as support family relationships “ development. Again, the differences in bereavement or financial difficulties. and children’s development the early cognitive development of young The Nuffield Foundation is exploring regardless of family structure children in lone mother and two-parent these changes in further detail as part of families appear to be largely driven by our Changing face of early childhood in We know there are marked differences in differences in their economic circumstances the UK series of evidence reviews, events children’s early outcomes when comparing rather than family structure or parenting and engagement. The series will draw on married and cohabiting parent families, practices. an extensive body of academic research on but when we take into account the We now have plenty of evidence from early childhood, some 80 studies funded differences in the characteristics of those several decades’ international research by the Foundation over the last eight years, who marry and those who cohabit — e.g. which shows the negative impact of alongside other key research. The first their educational background and socio- poor-quality family relationships – for review of the series How are the lives of economic status — the differences in young adults’ health, and for children’s long-term families with young children changing? is children’s outcomes, especially cognitive, outcomes and life chances. The quality of due to be published in late autumn. between those growing up in married and a couple’s relationship, whether together cohabiting families largely disappears. or apart, is also a key influence on how Carey Oppenheim is the Cross-cutting While it is true that cohabiting parents mothers and fathers parent and the Project Lead at the Nuffield Foundation are more likely to split up than those who presence of unresolved and hostile conflict and the former Chief Executive of the Early are married, the evidence suggests this in a family. Regardless of family structure, it Intervention Foundation and Jordan Rehill is is because people in stable relationships has been shown to be damaging for early a researcher at the Nuffield Foundation

27 POLITICS

Why I’m a Bright Blue supporter Graham Simpson MSP explains his political journey and why he backs Bright Blue

joined the Conservative Party a long time But at some point during Tony Blair’s are so ago. I was 15 and still at school. premiership, I started to get annoyed and important I It was just before Margaret Thatcher rejoined the party. for quality became Prime Minister. I turned up for my first association of life. Me and my mate joined the Young meeting and got elected chairman. We see the Conservatives in Carlisle, which then had Subsequently I was elected as a importance of space during the current no chance of having a Tory MP. We were councillor in East Kilbride, which was pandemic. dubbed ‘Maggie’s Minions’. staunchly Labour at the time. I then got re- I am attracted to some of the work elected, topping the poll. colleagues have done in government down All that was down to hard work and in London, particularly the idea of having a I have always been of the putting people first. national housing agency which, in its words, view that the core belief of “ And that’s what drives me. ‘disrupts the market’. Conservatives is that variety is I have no time for vested interests. I can’t the spice of life stand it when I see money buying influence. We should also think if our I was the Scottish Conservative’s Shadow current model of leaving I attended a national Young Cabinet Secretary for Housing, Communities “ Conservatives (YC) conference and spoke at and Social Security until Douglas Ross made everything to the market it, so did Harold Macmillan. I think I spoke me Shadow Cabinet Secretary for Transport, is the right one about the Brandt Report on international Infrastructure and Connectivity. aid and I recall doing a local radio interview I have always been of the view that the A similar body in Scotland could see the where the interviewer looked completely core belief of Conservatives is that variety state driving development in places like the baffled. is the spice of life. That’s what makes me a rural parts of our country that developers At one conference I handed a petition to Bright Blue supporter too. normally steer clear of. Maggie calling for a local community centre In housing, if we left everything to the My new role – transport – presents to be saved. Someone took our photo but market, we would not get the variety of opportunities for some fresh thinking too. never sent it to me. Not like nowadays. tenure, styles and places that we need. I am really keen on the idea that public I then went on to have career in local, We won’t necessarily get places that transport should be joined-up, that you then national newspapers where party people want to live in and we certainly should be able to hop on a train, the politics was not part of my life. won’t get the space – indoors and out – that underground, a tram, bus, or ferry with just one card. We should also think if our current model of leaving everything to the market is the right one. Too many communities are stuck in public transport deserts. So if we are putting people first – not those vested interests I mentioned – then we should be open to rethinking things. That’s what Bright Blue is about and it’s what I am about.

Graham Simpson MSP is the Shadow Cabinet Secretary for Transport, Colin Infrastructure and Connectivity

28 POLITICS

Tamworth Prize 2020 winner Ollie Tinker answers our essay question: what should one-nation conservatism mean in the 2020s?

average annual disposable income in London stood at £28,000, compared to just £16,000 in the North East. To be a one-nation conservative in the 2020s should mean a commitment to investing in infrastructure projects in underfunded regions of the UK, improving Number 10 standards of education in these areas and ne-nation conservatism has always Britain’s global role in the wake of Brexit empowering local communities. been a relatively malleable concept. presents huge opportunities within Infrastructure projects such as HS2 OFirst conceptualised in 1837 by economic and foreign policy. are therefore essential to combat Britain’s Benjamin Disraeli, it has constantly been Similarly, the flattening economic and increasing centralisation by making the reinvented throughout the party’s history to social consequences of the coronavirus north better connected. So too is the meet the demands of an evolving society. outbreak require policies which cater for extension of subsidies to attract new Historically, it has referred to the everyone in society. Naturally, this requires employers to former manufacturing paternalistic duty of the privileged to different policies to those implemented communities suffering from a high level of look out for those less fortunate and a after the War, but the principle remains the structural unemployment, to have a similar commitment to maintaining the unity same – the Government must represent impact that Nissan has had in Sunderland. of the United Kingdom, but following the interests of everyone in society, making This is especially important in the context the result of the 2019 General Election, it no exclusions based on race, class, gender, of an increasingly fragmented Union. The should be reinvented once more to meet sexuality or disability. rise of Scottish nationalism, complemented the demands of British society in the Such has been the transformation of by a lack of identification and engagement 2020s. With the advent of Boris Johnson’s British society, the Conservatives now with London and the South East from ‘People’s Government’ amidst the increasing represent constituencies outside their other parts of the country has shrouded fragmentation of the Union, Britain needs traditional support base, such as Blyth Valley the future of the Union in uncertainty. This one-nation conservatism more now than at and Bassetlaw. Transformations require could be rectified by a commitment to any time since the immediate aftermath of new commitments. Where one-nation promoting regional equality, by creating the Second World War. conservatism has traditionally aimed to new opportunities for less developed areas Perhaps the most notable period of narrow the degree of inequality between of the country, without damaging progress one-nation conservatism was between the richest and poorest sections of society, already made in other areas. By adopting 1951 and 1964, when Winston Churchill, it should now strive to narrow regional new principles, one-nation conservatism Anthony Eden, Harold Macmillan and Alec inequality as well. can remain committed to its traditional Douglas-Home led pragmatic governments One of the worst countries in the world principles. committed to narrowing inequality whilst for regional inequality, Britain has seen In order to understand what one-nation helping Britain recover from the economic a disproportionate yet necessarily high conservatism means, it is important to tribulations of the War. They were also faced level of investment in infrastructure and understand what it means to be British. with the challenge of establishing Britain’s employment in London and the South East, Whilst historically concerned with place within a changing international order. but often overlooked, ‘left behind’ working addressing class differences, the latest Boris Johnson’s government also faces this class and coastal communities in the north evolution of one-nation conservatism challenge, as the task of re-establishing of England, Wales and Scotland. In 2017, should strive to promote inclusivity and

29 POLITICS

>> celebrate diversity. Post-war no different in this regard. It should be in government. The extraordinary election immigration from the Commonwealth, and pragmatic in its attitude to the changing result , coinciding with the UK’s withdrawal more recently from Eastern Europe and demands of society, and pragmatic in the from the European Union presents a the Middle East has seen Britain become means it adopts to achieve its socially liberal unique opportunity for Britain to forge its a multicultural society where multiple aims. This is not to say that one-nation own path once more. By empowering the faiths are practised. In 2018, 13.8% of conservatism should abandon Conservative new communities that it represents, and the British public came from a minority economic principles. It should remain celebrating the uniqueness of multicultural ethnic background – a percentage which fiscally responsible, promote equality of Britain, the Party can dispel the urban myth is much larger in urban areas. One-nation opportunity and reward individualism and that it represents only the wealthiest in conservatives should promote inclusivity enterprise. It should find a balance between society, and establish a new reputation as a and tolerance, whilst aiming to narrow social and economic liberalism to forge benevolent party committed to equality of inequality between different ethnic a Conservative Party which works for the opportunity by economically responsible groups. At a time where there is little that whole country. means. Beyond enhancing itself, the party unites the British population, being British As a new decade begins, so too can also make the United Kingdom a more should be celebrated for the diversity it should the new direction of one-nation liberal, socially mobile country with one of implies. Beyond ethnic diversity, one- conservatism. The Conservative Party, by the most advanced infrastructure networks nation conservatives should also promote embracing the latest evolution of one- in the world. Only by championing the latest inclusivity and equality of opportunity in nation conservatism, has the opportunity to form of one-nation conservatism will this be terms of sexuality, disability and gender. reinvent itself, unite the nation and protect possible. Traditionally a pragmatic form of the future of the Union – an opportunity Conservative ideology, one-nation it can ill afford to waste, given the need to Ollie Tinker is a third year History student at conservatism in the 2020s should be adapt, to avoid losing power after ten years Newcastle University

JOSEPH SILKE Research update Joseph Silke provides an update on Bright Blue’s research programme

ike everybody else, Bright Blue has public attitudes to net zero: Going greener? zero, been adapting to the disruption thrust and we are nearing the end of an exciting social Lupon the world by the pandemic. research project on citizenship. care, In the space of only six months, the This autumn, Bright Blue is relaunching COVID-19, entire prism through which we view with a new Chair: the former Today and poverty, human our research has changed beyond what Evening Standard editor Sarah Sands. We rights and more. A full list of events is on we could have imagined before. Brexit, are thrilled to have her on the team, and we our website. although still not entirely resolved, seems will soon be revealing our new programme Despite the turmoil and like an issue from a bygone age. of research with four major projects across uncertainty of the world around us, we We lost some time to furlough and we a range of policy areas, as well as our new guarantee that Bright Blue will continue are all working from home, but we still have research themes, for the post-Brexit, post- to produce the original, impactful, and a host of exciting research projects that COVID-19 world. evidence-based research to defend and have been released or are in the works. This year we will be attending champion the liberal conservative values In July, we released some snapshot Conservative Party Conference virtually, that are needed to come out of all of this polling and analysis on the Experiences with 15 fringe events lined up with some stronger, even if its from our bedrooms. and expectations of businesses during great partners. If you are attending too, do COVID-19. We have also just released major, join us for discussions on a cross-section Joseph Silke is the Communications Officer comprehensive polling and analysis of of pressing issues including getting to net at Bright Blue

30 REVIEWS Remaking one nation Nick Timothy demonstrates why he is still one of the Right’s finest thinkers

Ryan Shorthouse problem with successful political advisers Chief Executive, Bright Blue – they can quickly become omnipotent increased. without omniscience. The state ick Timothy’s new book is Timothy has a raw and genuine anger has spent and testament to his thoroughness about the circumstances of peers he left regulated, especially Nand thoughtfulness. He is the type behind – the white, working-class – firing during this COVID-19 crisis. of person, from modest beginnings, that off facts about their limited educational Bashing liberalism, even its essential meritocrats in the conservative movement and employment prospects. But when he version, is clearly an itch that needs should be praising for reaching the heights apportions blame, he falls into cliché: it is scratching. He attempts to expose of professional life as Chief of Staff to the elites either sneering at or ignoring them. foundational flaws. First, the worship of Prime Minister. He does his homework. Apart from the odd contrarian columnist, rationality to reveal a single truth. But He is humble about success, writing I have never heard a professional person liberals such as Karl Popper have long accurately and eloquently: speak so damningly about other people. promulgated pluralism to falsify arguments “Nobody, however successful they The difficulties that do still exist are not and enable competing viewpoints, in a might be, has succeeded alone … Precisely through lack of trying – there have been constant journey towards — rather than because nobody has succeeded alone, all countless government initiatives to support absolute arrival at — truth. have a debt to others.” This book, however, the disadvantaged. It is because turning leaves no doubt about Timothy’s talent. communities around is dreadfully difficult. He develops a taxonomy The breadth of his reading and thinking The book joins those in the post-liberal at the start ... however, the reveals an obsessiveness about politics. But genre in blaming liberalism, or at least “ this can also lead him to unsavoury personal variants of it, for our supposed political, distinction between these vendettas against those he has clashed social and economic decay. He develops a different liberalisms blurs with – former colleagues George Osborne, taxonomy at the start. Essential liberalism, Justine Greening and Philip Hammond, with its focus on individual rights and Second, making freedom the pre- most strikingly. institutional accountability, gets a thumbs eminent value, thereby neglecting up. But he believes there are two ugly relationships and responsibilities. I agree He is the type of person, mutations of this philosophy which have that this is tricky terrain for liberals, from modest beginnings, that emerged — elite liberalism and ultra- sometimes ignored. But within the liberal “ liberalism, with the latter, Janus-like, having tradition there are those who want freedom meritocrats in the conservative a right-wing face in its obsessions with free to be a prime, but not necessarily exclusive, movement should be praising markets and a left-wing face in identarian consideration in political affairs. politics. Indeed, he quotes liberals such as Adam He has a rare ability to write However, the distinction between these Smith, Joseph Schumpeter and Isaiah Berlin illuminatingly on both complex different liberalisms blurs as the book all discussing the importance of dignity and philosophical principles and dense develops. As Timothy states, the leftist turn community. statistical evidence. His analysis of Britain’s to communalism which he rightly warns These important values — freedom and economic woes, in particular, is impressively about — and astutely ascribes to the rise in community — need balancing, prioritised factful, if not a little dystopian. But he tries anti-Semitism — is not liberal. He believes on different issues at different points in to cover too many subject areas, sometimes rightist ultra-liberalism is in ascendancy, but our lives. Timothy is at his best towards the offering bold conclusions based on narrow the facts say otherwise: British governments end of this book, when articulating what and superficial evidence— especially in recent decades have not been shy of the conservatism is, respecting and resolving on social mobility, self-employment and state. Open borders have not been pursued. the tensions between different desiderata. social integration. This points to a perennial Wage floors have been adopted and He writes very beautifully: “Conservatism

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>> does not place one value above all rather than just thinking we always need a others. Individual freedom alone does communitarian correction. not trump our obligations to others… The book, like all of us, is a bundle of Correspondingly, conservatism does not err contradictions: principled and poetic in too far in the opposite direction. It should places, blinkered and inconsistent in others. not stifle or intrude upon our personal But Nick Timothy has a brilliant brain. The freedom. The whole is important, but so too book is very much worth a read for allowing is the individual, which is why conservatives you to learn from and debate with it. have a respect for individuality and a tolerance for quirkiness and eccentricity.” Remaking one nation: the future of His policy prescriptions are generally conservatism; unoriginal but sometimes surprising, Nick Timothy; especially in support of the legalisation Polity; of cannabis and assisted dying. You see, 224 pages. sometimes we need to lean more liberally, Published 27 March 2020.

JOSEPH SILKE TV: The Mandalorian Jon Favreau’s touching adventure in a galaxy far, far away dazzles

Joseph Silke trepidation and low expectations. I must say, got a Communications Officer, Bright Blue however, that I absolutely loved it. genuine Leading man Pedro Pascal, whose glimpse tar Wars has always been about face you might remember getting caved of the families. To what extent familial ties in like a Kinder Egg during his time as galaxy without Sdetermine one’s destiny is one of the Oberyn Martell in Game of Thrones, does The Empire. The opening key questions to which the principal films a phenomenal job bringing the titular scene of The Force Awakens literally strive to find an answer. The theme has been bounty hunter ‘Mando’ to life despite almost had stormtroopers complete with their fertile ground for operatic explorations exclusively keeping his helmet on for the conspicuous white armour. Disney lazily of loyalty, betrayal, redemption and love entire series. Clearly he wasn’t taking any reverted to a repackaged Empire vs Rebels combined with laser swords. Indeed, they all chances this time. The series revives the formula. In The Mandalorian, however, revolved around successive generations of spaghetti-western-in-space vibe from we finally get something more interesting. the Skywalker family, and produced one of the original trilogy as we follow Mando The remnants of the Imperials are cast out the most iconic twists in cinematic history. navigating a largely lawless Outer Rim, only into the wastelands like refugees, forced to Unfortunately, Disney’s final act to five years after the decisive Battle of Endor hire Mando to bring in a valuable, mystery the Skywalker saga was executed with in Return of the Jedi. target. all the grace of a clown running across This target would not only steal the a minefield. I’m still not sure what was It has been reported that show, but become a cultural titan. It has more jarring: the fact that Rey managed Werner Herzog ... was been reported that Werner Herzog, who to bank zero character development after “ cameos as an Imperial officer, was reduced three feature films or the revelation that reduced to tears at the sight to tears at the sight of ‘Baby Yoda’ on set. Emperor Palpatine had sex. I therefore of ‘Baby Yoda’ on set Yes, he really is that cute. For whom Mando approached The Mandalorian, Disney’s live is sent to retrieve is no hardened renegade, action Star Wars television series created One of the most disappointing elements but what is referred to only as ‘The Child’. by Jon Favreau, with some combination of of the sequel trilogy was how we never The Child happens to be an infant of the

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>> same species as Jedi Grand Master Yoda, their own. which can be traced back to the invasion hence the nickname instantly adopted by of his home planet by the Separatist army fans across the world. The Mandalorian gets all of during the Clone Wars. As a child he was Rather than hand the seemingly helpless the basics right ... an exciting orphaned and taken in by the Mandalorian creature over to his client, Mando opts to “ tribe, who raised him as one of their own. protect him. It is the bond that develops Star Wars adventure which Fans of the franchise have long hoped for between these two unlikely companions honours what came before more insights into Mandalorian culture; this that defines the series. The warmth builds is the way! organically over the episodes until Mando It was unexpected that the series would Mando’s adoption into the Mandalorian becomes a surrogate father for the wee be a story about a gunslinging dad and his tribe mirrors his own adoption of Baby Yoda, Baby Yoda. It is a familial bond of choice, baby, but that’s essentially what it is. which is a satisfying development for the and it’s heartwarming. Mando and Baby Yoda go on the run character and feels like a coming-of-age from the Imperials and other bounty moment. It was unexpected that the hunters sent to retrieve the prize that our The first series ofThe Mandalorian gets series would be a story about a hero failed to deliver as promised. Over the all of the basics right. It is an exciting Star “ course of the episodes meet several side Wars adventure which honours what came gunslinging dad and his baby, characters, with Kuiil played by Nick Nolte before it while providing something new. but that’s essentially what it is and Cara Dune played by Gina Carano as While not as epic in scale as the films, that standouts. We also get the mandatory droid allows for a more intimate experience which A ‘foundling’ himself who was adopted in the form of IG-11, marvellously voiced by pays off. as a child by the Mandalorian tribe, Mando Taika Waititi. After a stellar start, the Mando and Baby and Baby Yoda form a two-person clan of Mando has a big problem with droids, Yoda return to Disney+ this month.

Film: The Farewell Lulu Wang’s Chinese-American comedy-drama doesn’t quite hit the mark

Alex Griffiths Researcher, Bright Blue it induces which deals the mortal blow. close, This is a film as much about a culture clash intimate between East and West, as about grief. focuses he Farewell is a visually stunning film Nai Nai’s international family descend on each with a perspective on life and death on the city of Changchun to bid farewell participant. Tnot often seen in Western cinema. to her, under the auspices of a hastily One other thing I thought the film However, despite brilliant acting and arranged wedding designed to provide missed, intentionally or not, was a proper visuals, it is undermined by poor character cover. Events unfold from the perspective of critique of China. The central basis for the development, a missed opportunity for Billi, Nai Nai’s twenty-something American film, suppressing truth for stability’s sake, serious political commentary and a weak granddaughter, who struggles to keep the seems a very appropriate allegory for ending. truth from her grandmother. modern China. However, the film ignores The Farewell’s premise is that Nai Nai, This is a film with a brilliant eye for this opportunity. Only one scene addresses elderly matriarch of a Chinese family, is setting a scene whether it be confusion directly the differences between the US and diagnosed with Stage Four lung cancer. As about how to enter a hospital through a China and even then, avoids sensitivities. per Chinese tradition, she is not informed wide-angle distance shot which almost The closest we get is an admission that of her diagnosis because of a belief that it loses the characters, or underlining the America has ‘opportunities’ China does not. is not the disease which kills, but the fear forced conviviality of a party game with The swerving of analysis was distracting

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>> because for a film premised on the idea about the relationship between Billi and the truth before it becomes repetitive. that a Chinese American finds it difficult to her grandmother, and yet the differences in Opportunities are missed to develop other understand the rationale behind Chinese women’s rights between China and America characters, especially Billi’s cousin and his customs it was reluctant to have a deep aren’t particularly considered. girlfriend. Considering that their marriage discussion or analysis of the contrasts The root of many of the film’s problems, is the movie’s MacGuffin the film wastes the between the two different perspectives. however, is not the failure to engage in opportunity to compare the imposed lie of a dialogue on differences, but rather to the marriage to the chosen deception of Nai The central basis for the film, appropriately develop the characters. Nai’s health. Despite the amazing acting of the cast, the suppressing truth for stability’s “ film would have been much improved by sake, seems a very appropriate The film would have been reducing the cast, rather than neglecting much improved by reducing allegory for modern China characters, with the exceptions of Nai Nai “ and Billi. the cast, rather than For example, in one scene Billi and It is only Shuzhen Zhao’s Nai Nai, in neglecting characters a woman we assume from a scene is a a scene stealing performance worthy of prostitute locked eyes outside a hotel awards, who receives any real development. The very worst aspect of the film though, room but this action seemed incongruous In comparison Awkwafina’s Billi, the titular and not to spoil it, was the end. The final because it hinted at a darker, more honest star of the film, is at times overshadowed third of the film was rather a damp squib, appreciation of the problems contemporary by other events. The major problems failing to resolve the issues it raised. China that had little discussion in the rest she is escaping at home in America are The film covers so many topics not of the film. The failure to engage with confusingly only superficially discussed. usually seen in homecoming movies, and the contrast was even stranger when we There are only so many times we can as such it is a real pity that they are never consider that the film is supposed to be see Billi or a family member wrestle with properly engaged with.

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PATRICK HALL Climate change and the nation state Anatol Lieven’s book provides a necessary, refreshing take on an urgent crisis

Patrick Hall right-wing zealots for their almost religious change Researcher, Bright Blue commitment to the denial of science and to be climate-scepticism. By those on the political reframed ver the last decade, climate change right, climate change is perceived to be, as a national has made its way to the forefront of incorrectly, a left-wing issue. In point of fact, security issue, and to Opublic debate. Anatol Lieven — a it is an issue regardless of one’s political partially repurpose the military to foreign policy thinker of a realist disposition leanings. Ironically, left unchecked, climate deal with climate resilience for when these — makes his contribution to this debate change will make certain areas of the planet effects take hold. in his book Climate change and the nation uninhabitable and drive mass migration This non-partisan book provides an state: the realist case. Climate change is a on a far greater scale than what has been original take on an issue which has sadly global issue that has no respect for national witnessed in Europe over the last decade. If been kicked about in a game of political borders which is why, at first glance, this populist parties truly fear mass migration, football. To read it, no doubt, will be book seems perplexing. How does a theory Lieven makes the case that they should be challenging and possibly uncomfortable for such as realism, entrenched in the ideas of seeking to combat climate change now. some. It has been the most refreshing book the nation state, sovereignty and national Ultimately, the book argues for the need I have read all year. borders, hold the answers to an issue such to depoliticise climate change, and garner as climate change? commitment to combating it from all sides. Climate change and the nation state: the The book is centred around the Lieven supports the idea of a Green realist case; premise that we already have the scientific New Deal, and believes that as part of Anatol Lieven; understanding and financial resources to ‘saving capitalism from itself’, society will Penguin; tackle climate change, but what is lacking be required to diverge from its materialist 220 pages. is political consensus. In some ways, this economy. The book reflects on Britain Published 5 March 2020. book is very much a contemporary take during the blitz and the material sacrifices on combating climate change, with there made during that time. being little mention of the role technology The realist school of thought may play in future as part of societies’ efforts understands the power of the nation state to mitigate climate change. in terms of the military. Lieven believes Lieven picks apart left-wing that climate change, not China, is the intersectionality on climate change, which most significant security threat to the conflates climate change with other issues United States. In fact, the book expresses such as gender equality or anti-racism. some admiration for the way in which the Intersectionality claims that these issues are Chinese Government has rapidly mobilised interconnected, and therefore to resolve and delivered climate policy. However, one issue should be to resolve all. Laudable the book appears all too convenient in its though campaigns to resolve these assessment of China. For all of their progress issues may be, Lieven argues that the Left on delivering climate policy, Lieven appears politicise climate change and in doing so, to gloss over the human rights violations, create a partisan divide. The same is argued quashing of democracy and expansionist for socialist and green parties’ ideological ambitions that are associated with China. commitment to open borders, which Lieven Some of the effects that will be felt as asserts fuels the fire of right-wing populist a result of climate change have already parties that are typically sceptical of become inevitable. Consistent with his climate change. Equally, the book criticises realist principles, Lieven calls for climate

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